Through Time and Space
by jeti-n-San
Summary: YAOI, YY &c. AU. Wanted space pirates Yami, Bakura and Otogi come upon a deserted slave ship, and find themselves caught in a journey halfway across the galaxy. The galactic military is after them, and someone is out there plotting universal domination...


jeti: welcome to our first collaborated fanfic on ffnet. we've decided not to put in many authors notes.  
  
San: Right. So, read our fic! And then review!  
  
Warnings: Will eventually be Yaoi; Y/Y among other things. However, that won't start 'till at least chapter two. This is an introduction-type thing.  
  
Disclaimer: We don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, and if you look at our yearly incomes it can be safely determined that we never will. Don't sue us.  
  
~~~  
  
"Agh! What is that!?" Yami pointed a finger at an odd black lump of... of something burnt sitting in the center of the plate in front of him.  
  
"What do you mean?" aked Bakura, feigning confusion. "It's your dinner."  
  
"My dinner!?" yelled Yami, "How can that be dinner!? I thought you said you were making porridge!"  
  
"I did."  
  
Yami stared a bit at Bakura, then at the plate, before finally turning to Bakura again. "How in hell did you manage to burn porridge?"  
  
"It's a gift," said Bakura, smirking slightly.  
  
"What kind of stupid gift is that!?"  
  
"Oh come on, it's not much worse than what you try making us when it's your turn to cook."  
  
"At least my food is edible!"  
  
"Oh, so that time you gave us all food poisoning doesn't count?"  
  
"That's because some bastard decided that is was better to get rotten meat, since it was cheaper!"  
  
"I already told you, we were low on money!"  
  
"Oh, and the money counts more than our lives, does--"  
  
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.  
  
Yami and Bakura both turned towards a little red light in the ceiling that had begun to flash and make a rather loud beeping noise. The lights in the the room flickered for a moment before turning completely off, along with the heating and everything else on the ship that ran on electricity.  
  
"Oh, fuck," muttered Bakura as the whole room lurched most unpleastantly, and suddenly both he and Yami found themselves floating in midair.  
  
"OTOGI!" yelled Yami, directing his voice towards the ceiling. "OTOGI, GET THE DAMN POWER ON AGAIN, RIGHT NOW!"  
  
Just as suddenly as it the power had gone out, everything turned on again. As the artificial gravity system kicked in, Yami and Bakura found themeselves landing in a most undignifying manner on the floor. Bakura's burnt porridge lump rolled away when it landed, leaving an odd trail of ashes behind it. Yami stood up, angrily brushing pieces of the aforementioned porridge out of his hair as he moved towards the door. "I'm going to see what's up with Otogi," he called back to Bakura, "you better have something edible by dinnertime."  
  
Bakura scowled at this last remark, but before he could insult Yami to his face, the other had slammed the door behind him. He shot an angry glare at the door, but since the door didn't much care who glared at it he turned back towards their small refrigerator, opening it. "Let's see," he said to himself, rummaging through old packages. "What here didn't expire too long ago?"  
  
***  
  
Yami stormed up the stairs towards the steering/navigational room, where Otogi was currently holding his shift. While he was steering such power outages never happened, and during Bakura's they were too common to care about. But a power failure while Otogi was up was just as common as they were during his own shift, therefore they usually meant some sort of trouble. Slowly he pushed the door open, and when he did he found Otogi typing away furiously on one computer screen while doing radar tracking on a second and plotting courses on a third.  
  
"Otogi, what--?"  
  
"Hello Yami. Sorry about the power out, a suspicious looking ship showed up on radar and I was tracking its course," Otogi replied smoothly, not looking up from the screen. "From what I can tell from its movement patterns, it seems to be abandoned, or otherwise not running. From its size I've determined to either be a cargo ship or a slave ship, either of which is of interest to us."  
  
"Have you--?"  
  
"I've already reset our destination to bring us near the loading docks. Despite the appearance, you can never be too sure about what's safe and what's not. I'd suggest getting Bakura out of the kitchen and getting the gear together." Otogi suddenly turned away from the screen (although he did not stop his furious typing) to smile at Yami. "Actually, from the yelling I guessed you were going to drag him out of that kitchen sooner or later anyway."  
  
"Yeah, it's times like these I wish that we didn't have to divide the work up evenly," said Yami quickly, glad to get in a word edgewise. "Bakura isn't exactly the best cook ever."  
  
"You can say that again."  
  
Yami nodded in agreement, although Otogi had turned back towards the computers and could no longer see him. "So," he began, "when will we get there?"  
  
"Ehh, ten minutes, give or take. Better get ready now."  
  
Yami turned and left the room, to find Bakura reaching his hand under the refrigerator, "Yami!" he yelled, "I dropped some meat under here! It's still good, you gotta help me get it!"  
  
"Don't bother," replied Yami. "Otogi's got a ship on radar, he says it looks to be a slave trader or a cargo ship. I'm putting my money on cargo, you?"  
  
"Slave," answered Bakura, standing up and brushing non-existant dust off of his shirt. "But only because you picked first. Ten bucks?" They left the kitchen, heading for the equiptment room.  
  
"Twenty," replied Yami, opening the door. "According to Otogi, we're getting there in ten. And if you know Otogi--"  
  
"Five minutes, right. How about fifteen?"  
  
"Hm?" asked Yami, digging something out of a crate in the corner. "Fifteen what?"  
  
"Dollars, obviously."  
  
"Oh, right. Sure," said Yami, standing up with a small gun. He cecked if it had ammo before he hung it from his belt and turned to Bakura. "Ready yet?"  
  
"You know I never go anywhere without my weapons," answered Bakura gesturing towards his knee-high boots.  
  
". . . Right."  
  
~~~  
  
It was a relatively easy landing, which usually meant good tidings. Of course sometimes it meant the military was lying in wait, but there was always that chance anyway.  
  
Bakura, Yami and Otogi, all in thier spacesuits (even the best technology cannot let humans go unprotected around space, although it can make the suits look nice), stepped through the portal into the next ship. Each had a gun in his hand, and when they entered the ship, they did so warily. The ship, however, didn't look dangerous.  
  
In fact, the ship was completely empty. Except for the clicking of their shoes on the metal floor and the slight hum that comes from artifical gravity machinery and heating, the ship was completely silent. The lights were mostly out, but from what they could see in the half-light, nothing stirred.  
  
"Damnit," muttered Otogi. "I hate it when the ships are like this. It's creepy, not to mention a waste of time."  
  
"I'll search the left hallway," said Bakura, ignoring what Otogi said. He seemed to say something of that nature no matter what type of ship it was.  
  
"Center," said Otogi.  
  
"I'll go right, then," added Yami. "We'll meet back here in a half hour, then check out the floor below us."  
  
~~~  
  
Otogi walked up the long hallway, glancing into every room along the way. Nothing. It seemed that whoever had been on the ship ad left, and rather abruptly, too. 'One door left,' he thought with a sigh. He slowly pushed it open, holding his gun in front of him to ward off anyone who might be waiting for him.  
  
No one.  
  
He dropped his gun to his side as he took a quick walk around the room. It seemed to be the room leading to the hallway leading to the dock oppposite the one they had come in on. He looked through a thick, glass window in the front wall, one that had a veiw of the lower floors.  
  
As he looked through, his face filled with shock. Slowly he backed away, swallowing hard. "By the stars. . ." he whispered, "I. . . we better get out of here!"  
  
~~~  
  
'Damnit. Damnit, damnit, damnit,' thought Bakura, closing the door to yet another empty room 'Why,' he muttered to himself, 'do I always get the hallway with nothing there?'  
  
He slammed the door angrily, and walked towards the next door, which looked the same as all the others. In other words, not very promising.  
  
But when he entered the room, he was met with a very pleasant sight.  
  
"Food storeroom!"  
  
~~~  
  
Yami left yet another room that was devoid of anything, including furniture. He sighed as he closed the door, this ship wasn't what he had hoped for. Not only that, but the lighting was bad and his flashlight was beginning to die. Room after room after room of nothing got to be a bit dis-heartening after a while. He suppressed a yawn as he opened up the next door.  
  
He stepped inside the room. It was once again dark, so Yami turned his flashlight on. There was a slight click, and then a weak, flickering light filled the room. He brought it around, checking all the corners.  
  
That's when he saw it.  
  
The flashlight's beam hit a mess of something red and black. Yami fingered the gun on his belt before stepping forward. As he got closer, he saw that it was hair, human hair. It was the hair of a small boy who lay unconcious in the corner.  
  
He looked young and his hair was oddly like Yami's, although with a little less yellow. As Yami got over the initial shock of someone having the same hair as his, he saw that the boy was bound and gagged. He gently took the gag out of the other's mouth, noticing that the boy's face was smaller than his own, but strangely beautiful. He reached forward slowly, brushing the boy's bangs out of his eyes. 'I. . . I wonder who he is,' thought Yami, grimacing slightly at the bruises that marred the young one's pale skin, along his arms and back.  
  
"Yaaa~mi! Baaa~kura!"  
  
Yami paused his thoughts for a moment to listen to an echoing cry. 'Otogi!' he thought. 'Something must have happened!' He shoved the flashlight into his pocket quickly, blinking at the sudden change in lighting. Then he reached down and picked up the boy, throwing him over his shoulder. 'He's so light,' thought Yami, as he raced out of the room and into the hallway.  
  
He reached the front hall as fast as he could, toting someone on his shoulder. Bakura and Otogi arrived nearly the same time, both out of breath. Bakura was carrying several small crates.  
  
"What's wrong, Otogi?" asked Yami, shifting the boy's weight uneasily.  
  
"Th-, the ship! The bottom por- there's people searching the bottom portion! The military is in the floor right below! When they find us--"  
  
"If," interupted Yami, "And they won't. We know they're here, but they don't know we're here, so we have the advantage. We just have to get to our ship, they'll never be able to keep chase even if they do notice us, so--"  
  
"Well, hurry then!" spat Bakura. "If we're in that much danger, what are we doing here arguing!"  
  
"Right," said Yami. "Let's go!"  
  
They each ran as fast as they could, Otogi in front because he wasn't carrying anything, Bakura next because he was rather strong, and Yami in the back, with the boy still slung over his shoulder.  
  
Otogi ran through the door to their own ship, and raced up the stairs to the control room. Bakura and yami hurried in just behind, Bakura dropping his load and shutting the door. The gravitational systems faltered for a moment as Otogi used all the power for a speedy liftoff.  
  
When they were back in space and the ship had replaced the energy, the gravity returned and Yami and Bakura both found themeselves on the floor again. This time, however, there was someone laying on top of Yami. Someone, Yami noticed, who was not wearing nearly enough clothes. Now, in the full light, Yami could see that only a small piece of cloth was tied around the boy's waist, instead of proper covering. Yami rolled out from beneath the small body, to find Bakura grinning insanely at him. "What?" he asked.  
  
"You," answered Bakura, "owe me fifteen bucks."  
  
"What!?"  
  
"You've brought with you evidence that it was a slave ship, after all," said Bakura, gesturing towards the body lying limp on the floor between them.  
  
"Oh. Shit, I was hoping you forgot that."  
  
"Never," replied Bakura, smoothly. "Money's money, and I never forget money. Now, pay up." Bakura held out the palm of his hand expectantly.  
  
"Later."  
  
"Bah."  
  
"What? I don't have any money with me right now!"  
  
"You're just trying to get out of paying me!"  
  
"Am not!"  
  
"Are too!"  
  
"Am not!"  
  
"Are too!"  
  
"Am not!"  
  
"Are too!"  
  
"Am not!"  
  
"Are too!"  
  
"Am not!"  
  
"Hn. . .? Where. . . where am I. . .?"  
  
Yami and Bakura's argument was interrupted by a small voice. They both turned towards the boy lying on the floor. His eyes fluttered open, revealing violet irises before glancing sleepily at Yami, then Bakura. "Ryou?" he whispered, unsure of what he was seeing. "Ryou? . . . Is that you?"  
  
~~~  
  
San: ^_^ with each chapter, we get closer to the eventual yaoi. . . (drools)  
  
jeti: feh. that was a stupid, messed up, bad excuse for a cliffie.  
  
San: It's OK.  
  
jeti: whatever. anyway, since this is a collaboration, updates may be a bit sporadic.  
  
San: Which means, don't expect us to update every week at a pre-determined time. It depends on how much we get in touch with each other per week.  
  
jeti: right. so anyway, if you've read this far, will you spare us a review?  
  
San: Yes! Review!  
  
jeti: *whispers* and also review my stories, please!  
  
San: But first review this! Depending on how many reviews we get, we might speed up on updating! Show us you care! Review!  
  
jeti: by the way, because i refuse to use ms word (long story) this thing is typed in notepad. even though both me and San look it over, we're only human after all. please excuse any and all errors! *bows*  
  
San: . . . And then review! 


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